“That’s not funny, Raoul! People aren’t allowed to hate each-other for being different!”
“They say they aren’t allowed to, but they still do it.”
“No, they don’t!”
“What if I said I had decided to be a Deist?”
The head girl blanched. “That’s different! Being a Deist automatically means you’re making assumptions and judging other people’s life-styles! So it’s not fair to think like that!”
“But you just said people have the right to believe anything they want?” Keren asked, confused.
The girl whirled on her, eyes flashing. “Not if your beliefs involve making judgments about other people’s beliefs!!”
“Isn’t your belief that I’m not allowed to think this way also a judgment about my beliefs?” Raoul asked in a bored voice. He languished on the table, his coat-tails draped indifferently across the bench. “Your creed is self-contradictory. You say no belief may involve judgment of any other belief, and yet that is exactly what your own creed must do by default. The truth of the matter is that those in power rule, and those without power must follow like sheep, or be punished for straying from the herd.”
“And you’re just an arrogant upstart!” the girl cried. “Trying to sow intolerance and bring back the old days of oppression, when –”
“When one people’s belief system dominated all other belief systems? I believe you and yours have accomplished that already, dear.”
All three girls flounced off in a huff, the arrogant young man smiling after them.
“You shouldn’t be such an ass, Raoul,” Marcus said.
Raoul shrugged. “Why not? It’s not like they can get me into any more trouble with the chancellor. If they expel me they’ll expel me, and I’ll move on to some more profitable place to make my fortune, like Pouthenos. Should’ve done that years ago, anyway.”
Marcus snorted and turned back to Keren. “So, about that forest you were telling me about. From the dawn of the world, you said?”
Keren nodded. At least one of these people was amiable when it came to conversation! …And he was cute. “Yeah, that’s what the natives said. The trees were gigantic, taller than the tallest buildings in this city, and big enough around to fit an entire house inside!”
Marcus stroked his chin, as if playing the philosopher. “Ah, but no tree can be as old as the world! There would have to be soil and minerals and the right proportions of atmospheric gases beforehand in order for it to grow. And if it was, it would be billions of years old! I doubt it was big enough around to hold an entire house…”
“How do you know?” Raoul muttered, craning his head over his shoulder to look at them. He did not make any effort to adjust his slouched position on the table. “You weren’t there.”
“Eh-heheh…I guess I’ll just take your word for it,” Marcus said with a smile. “And about that goddess you mentioned – is she as old as the world, too?”
“I suppose so,” Keren said. “She said she’d been guarding the well of power since its beginning, and it was the well that created the world. Although, now that I think about it, that’s just what the villagers said. According to the goddess the well wasn’t really the beginning of the world, since there is more than one well, and they all go through cycles like the seasons.”
“So you believed her, because she was a goddess?”
“Well, no, she wasn’t really a goddess, it turns out. Just a really sexy fox. A magic fox, I mean! With power over life and death, or something. Even after she was killed, part of her spirit was still intact and she escaped. Now the well is sealed, and the whole land might fall into ruin…”
Marcus listened to all of this with great interest. “It’s been a long time since I heard anyone with such original stories! Everyone here likes to pride themselves on being diverse and unique, but in reality all they ever do is copy each-other. It’s so superficial. There’re no real differences underneath.”
“Hypocrite,” Raoul muttered. Keren wondered what was wrong with him.
She looked at Marcus. “What do you believe, then? What makes you different from everyone else?”
“Oh, me? Haha, I dunno. What do I believe in, Raoul?”
“Nothing.” Raoul said. “You always claim to stand for something, but then change your mind whenever you’re afraid of someone disagreeing with you.”
“Ah-ha! There’s Raoul for you. You can tell why nobody likes him – he’s way too honest,” Marcus said sheepishly, scratching at the stubble on his chin.
Keren was struck with a sudden thought. “If you really do like unique ideas…do you believe in the undead?”
Marcus looked very confused by this. “No. Why should I?”
“Aren’t you afraid there might be something beyond death – something you can’t explain – and that it might come and get you someday?” Keren wasn’t sure why she was trying to make this into a horror story…
“Ah, I suppose some people are afraid of dying, but not me!” Marcus said breezily. “Death doesn’t really matter – all that matters is what you do with this life, since that’s all you’ve got. Don’t go betting on getting a second chance later on. I mean, the whole point of death is that it’s death – there’s nothing that comes after it! Poof, you’re gone, you don’t exist anymore! That’s why people are afraid of it to begin with. Isn’t it obvious?”
“No, not to me,” Keren replied.
Marcus shrugged. “That’s fine. Go ahead and spend your time hoping that you’ll become a ghost, or that you’ll be reincarnated or something. Just don’t drag me into it.”
“Why would you encourage me to go on hoping about it, if it’s a waste of time?”
“It is a waste of time. But you’re free to believe whatever you want –”
“Why?”
“Because no one knows what reality is; it’s all up to people’s personal opinions!” Marcus said.
“Those two things can’t both be true!” Keren objected. “Either there is such a thing as life after death, or there isn’t. Which means there’s at least one part of reality which isn’t up to anyone’s opinion. Which is it?”
“What?”
“Just because everyone has different opinions about reality doesn’t mean there’s no underlying truth about reality! If you insist this life really is the only one, then truth isn’t all up to personal opinion! And you shouldn’t go around giving people advice about their lives if you think there’s no actual truth to your advice!!”
Raoul butted in: “Of course, neither you nor he can be sure there is a life beyond this one. Why bother pretending either of you knows the truth of things? We are all fallible human beings. Made of stardust we may be, but in the end we only ‘know’ what we experience with our five senses. Why assume that these senses are accurate?
“You both probably realize that dreams and hallucinations are deceptions of your senses. But then, if the senses are so easily fooled, why believe anything they tell you? That is why we allow everyone the freedom to decide reality for themselves. Who are we to presume that our version of reality is the right one?”
Keren stared at him. “Wait, so if you don’t trust anything your senses tell you, do you actually think you’re talking to us right now?”
“I think it’s possible there might be other persons I am speaking with, which is the only reason why I’m bothering to explain these things – on the off chance that you two are real people who might benefit from it. Then again, that’s just an ignorant rationalization on my part. In truth, each of my decisions is dictated by the movements of my brain cells through cause-and-effect, so I have no choice but to do as I am doing right now.”
“Wait, but you just said you can never know anything. How do you know you don’t have free will?”
“Cause he’s crazy!” Marcus exclaimed. “He thinks he’s just a computer running off someone else’s programming. According to him, he doesn’t really believe anything he just said, because it’s just rando
mness spouted by the matter in his brain!”
Raoul glared coolly at him. “Mock me all you want; it does not change the truth of what I said!”
“Who’s mocking you, sir? I’m just a figment of your imagination, conjured up by your brain to comfort you in your miserable solitude!” Marcus hooted. He pulled a blank sheaf of paper from his pocket and waved it in front of Raoul’s face. “See this? It’s my certificate of friendship! Oh, it’s blank, you say? Perhaps you should remind the annoying ego half of your brain to get an upgrade! There’s obviously some miscommunication going on between your left and right hemispheres!!”
“Your sophomoric remarks mean nothing to me.”
“Oh yeah? Your arrogant sophistry means nothing to me, either!”
Keren got up from the table and backed away awkwardly. This is really weird…“It was, uh, nice to speak with you. I think I’d better go now…”
Both of the young men started up. “Don’t go yet! We weren’t finished talking –” Raoul said.
“Don’t mind him; he acts this way around everybody!” Marcus protested.
Keren grimaced, still backing away, and suddenly ran into something solid. She jumped around and tried not to scream when she saw Akar standing directly behind her. How on earth it’d snuck so casually through the crowd with a horse in tow…Keren scolded herself for continuing to be surprised by the Necrow’s antics.
“I’m afraid my companion has other matters to attend to,” the Necrow said. Its soft voice rang clearly over the clamor of the crowd, and there was a note of iron in it. Both of the young Perniciem men gaped up at it in surprise. Keren wondered giddily what they thought they were seeing.
“Good day,” Akar said, and with a brush of its cloak, shepherded Keren away from the table. She would have objected, had she not been longing for an excuse to get away.
“Did you, ah, find what you were looking for?” she asked as they left the campus.
“Yes. This country is poorer than it appears; the supplies may not be as much to your liking as those from Xiramin.”
“That’s all right, I guess. Thank you.” Keren berated herself that she was actually thanking the Necrow for stealing for her. Then again, reality was all up to individual opinion, and in her reality, why should stealing be wrong?
Akar cut a swath through the crowds, making a way down the street toward the other end of the city. After a while the Necrow asked: “What were you discussing so intently with those boys?”
“Oh, we were discussing the peculiarities of their philosophy. The first one claimed there was no such thing as the undead or the afterlife. But that was inconsistent with his other belief that all truth is relative. The other one claimed we aren’t able to know anything at all, so in that case why not just pick the version of reality that best happens to suit you? One can choose to believe in free will and the afterlife, since those are just as likely to exist as not to exist. How would you ever tell the difference?”
Keren continued, “I think, with a philosophy like that, you’re basically coming up with elaborate reasons to follow common sense. Nobody knows what truth is. But that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t stick with your best guess about things and treat it as truth until you come up with better reasons for another guess!”
“Then again, how does that boy know that no one can ever know anything?” Akar murmured. “According to his logic that is a guess like any other. No evidence in the world could prove it to be true because, according to him, no evidence can be trusted. And so he, like his companion, must also put his faith in a foundation that is taken for granted.”
“Exactly! Silly fools…what the heck are they even learning on that campus of theirs…”
“Do you believe the afterlife exists?”
Keren gaped at Akar in astonishment. The Necrow was looking at her very intently. “Why, I – I don’t know! How in the world could I answer a question like that? I’ve never seen it!”
“The question was not whether you could prove its existence. The question was whether you believed in it or not.”
Keren was very uncomfortable about this. For some reason she felt as if the Necrow were judging her; an appalling thought, to be sure. “I guess I’d like to believe in it, because…well, you know…but…I don’t know! It just seems like an overly optimistic kind of wish-fulfillment.”
“That is disappointing. It was hoped you would have the resolve to stand by your convictions, so to speak.” The Necrow flicked one eye open and looked sideways at her. It unnerved Keren in a whole new way. It was like the thing was teasing her!
“What’s wrong with you? Why are you acting like that?!”
“How do you mean?”
“You know what! You’re doing it on purpose!”
“I’m sure I do not know what you’re insinuating.”
“Yes, you do! You’re being coy! I bet you learned it from that freaky Fox Queen, didn’t you? You thought she was cute, didn’t you? Or maybe she fried your brain when she brought you back to life! Remember that?!”
“No. You seem to be confused about recent events,” Akar said. A ghost of a smile crossed its lips as it turned its head away.
Keren valiantly resisted the impulse to throw herself at the Necrow and stab it again with her dagger.
CHAPTER 16
THE CATHEDRAL
Rain began to fall as they made their way through the city. Keren trudged next to the horse, pulling her hood close about her face. They now had rations enough to travel on, but she was weary, and desperately wanted nothing more than to get out of this rain.
The streets along which they wandered were old, pockmarked with age and gray with the passage of time. A fog stole out of the falling night, curling through dark alleys and around iron lamp posts. The crowds had quickly dispersed before the threat of worsening weather, and now only huddled shapes hastened to and fro along the crumbling sidewalks. There was rubbish strewn along the gutters. Hints of wild green poked their tendrils through the shattered asphalt.
A vast edifice loomed through the fog. Keren gasped at its sudden nearness, her breath steaming in the chilly air. It was like a castle carved from music, a fortress of melody lifting towards heaven, wreathed in mysteries. The mist hung like a wedding garment from its ancient statues and spires. The windows were ribbed in stone and bore colorful panes etched with scenes from an unknown history.
Keren had not realized she had stopped in her tracks to stare at the building until Akar turned around and asked, “What are you doing?”
“This place –” she whispered. “It’s so beautiful. Can we go inside?”
“Granted, it would be beneficial to get out of the rain. The horse will have to stay without, though the eaves will provide shelter for it…”
Keren grasped the iron handle of the door and pulled. The ancient wood creaked gloriously; the smell of incense wafted into the night air. She slipped inside and huddled on the threshold.
This place was holy. The immense walls curved upward like a vast ribcage, guarding the heart that was the altar. The stained-glass windows let in a faint light, casting muted colors over the wooden benches which lined the vast nave.
Even here there were woeful signs of neglect. Rainwater trickled in streams from unseen cracks and fissures, marked by cascades of moss on the walls. Lichen covered the drier stones, and several of the pews were crumbling from rot and mildew. Lush vines curled across the mantles and window sills, and small bushes were beginning to take root in the pitted floor beneath.
Beautiful it was, even in its neglect. Still, Keren felt a great upwelling of sorrow that such a sacred place would be abandoned. She moved down the aisle as if in a dream, entranced by the music of the water dripping down the ancient walls. Towards the altar, where worshippers had perhaps offered sacrifices of blood and bread in ages past…
Too late did she notice the brush of alien teeth against her heart. A great black crow burst from the shadows, beating the still air into a gale, blaspheming the
silence with its raucous caw. It dove toward Keren’s breast, talons outstretched. She clutched her dagger but had no time to draw it. The yokai’s greedy eyes bored into hers.
A psychic shockwave pulsed through the air. The crow fell back, shrieking, its limbs in disarray. It landed on the pulpit near the altar and shook itself furiously. Black feathers flew everywhere.
Before Keren had time to blink twice, a child was squatting in the crow’s place. A wooden mask hung jauntily over half its face, depicting a crude sketching of beak and talons. The child’s hair was like a nest of twigs. Its skin was bronze, its fingers like razors. Its eyes were the same as the crow: black and piercing, devoid of humanity. It chilled her to see such eyes in a child’s face.
“Damned spirit!” the child shrieked. “What business dost thou have here? Didst thou not go to the Queen in the West as thee was directed?”
“Most assuredly I did, deceiver, though it did little good,” Akar replied.
Keren still clutched the hilt of her knife, looking wildly back and forth between the two. Akar had met this monster before? “Is this the one who told you about Amaterasu?” she asked.
Akar nodded. “Indeed. It volunteered the information readily, trusting the Fox Queen to dispose of me. It must be admitted that her powers were far greater than anticipated.”
The yokai cackled with glee, a sound which made Keren’s nape hairs stand on end. “Powerful she is, damned spirit! Her strength is greater than all the armies of men combined. Power over death she has also. How was thou able to escape her grasp?”
“The fox was banished by a power greater still, yokai. One which your kind fears to name.”
“Aii!” the bestial child writhed upon the pulpit, its flesh crawling and putting forth black quills. “Amaterasu, defeated! Inconceivable! Though she has lived for a thousand years or more… It seems all reigns must have their end. And yet…the scepter was not passed on to man, was it?” Its quills flexed and subsided as it peered at them. “Was it?”
“The Well was sealed before men could take control of it,” the Necrow said. Keren wondered at the lack of concern in its voice when it said this; it almost sounded at ease with that fact!
Necrosis (The Omens of Gaia Book 1) Page 22